


Consider The Earth

by AvocadoLove



Series: Consider Chaos [2]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Avatar Zuko (Avatar), Chaos Avatar Zuko, Earthbender Zuko, Earthbending & Earthbenders, Gen, Spirits, Spiritual, Toph as Zuko's Earthbending Master, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck, Zuko learning the meaning of Earth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-28
Updated: 2020-08-13
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:29:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25574365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AvocadoLove/pseuds/AvocadoLove
Summary: Now that Zuko has fused with Vaatu to become the Avatar of Choas to rival Raava's Order, he must seek out an Earthbending Master.But even the first Avatar had to first visit the Lion Turtles to access the elements, and the Lion Turtles have been gone for millennia.Luckily, Vaatu has a plan.
Relationships: Toph Beifong & Zuko, Vaatu & Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Consider Chaos [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1853452
Comments: 395
Kudos: 2386
Collections: Finished111





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [FauxPause](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FauxPause/gifts).



> I've been trying to write this sequel for awhile now, but something wasn't clicking. Then FauxPause gave me a GREAT idea in the comments that lit a fire in my mind. Thank you.

It took Zuko a week to make it to Earth Kingdom shores. He survived off of dubious-looking arctic berries, a snow squirrel-hare he’d managed to catch, and ice he melted using firebending. Not much, but barely enough. Shock and pure determination had kept him going. He would not have made it the first night without his firebending to keep him warm.

Something had changed within him—something other than the spirit of chaos bound to his soul— but Zuko was not someone who was used to a lot of self-reflection. He couldn’t put his finger on exactly what was different, only that it was.

The nearest small scrubby town seemed to be a mix of Earth Kingdom peasants and Water tribe outcasts. No one was impressed by his scruffy, half-starved kid. His recently shaved head made some suspect he had flea-lice, and the inn-keeper insisted he dunk in a cold pool before he stepped inside. Others assumed, from the scar, he had gotten on the wrong side of a firebender. Not one person offered charity. Instead, they offered work.

There was a fishing vessel set to go out to sea, and if Zuko wanted to eat, he was expected to earn his keep.

It galled him—he was a prince, he should be given food!—but he wasn’t stupid. And he did know how to swab decks.

His only regret was that he had to leave Uncle in the North. But surely, he was fine. He was never the one who had been banished. As a matter of fact, he had a high place of honor as Admiral Zhao’s advisor, and if the siege proved successful… well, Uncle would share Zhao’s glory. He could go home.

 _Glory_ , Vaatu scoffed deep in his heart. _One more step in Ravva’s plan to bring all under a single voice._

This was the most disturbing change within him. Zuko was Fire Nation to the core. He loved his homeland and his people. They were the best in the world. 

But one of the things which had changed—or maybe not changed, but strengthened—was the nagging feeling that perhaps the Fire Nation wasn’t right for everybody.

Zuko’s favorite food was spicy noodles, but it didn’t mean they were for everyone.

 _Spicy noodles. How poetic. My vessel is such a deep thinker_ , Vaatu thought, dry.

Zuko scowled and leaned his mop against the railing of the ship. He had as little to do with the fishermen as possible, and was currently hidden out of sight behind a bundle of fishing nets.

“If my father wins the war, and the whole world becomes Fire Nation,” he said, “Does that make the Fire Nation… less special?”

 _Now that_ , Vaatu replied, _is a valid question_.

****

Zuko took his meager payment at the first Earth Kingdom Port meant for evening shore leave, and walked off the ship the moment it docked. He didn’t look back.

He wandered through the town. No direction. No plan.

As a prince, he had always been set apart by birth, and even more so during his banishment. But he had never been alone like this.

He needed to find an Earthbending teacher. At sixteen, he was too old to be a novice, but the coins meant for shore leave was enough only to buy a few meager meals. Not earthbending classes.

But Zuko was not about to give up that easily.

 _Go East_ , Vaatu said. You will not find what you seek here.

“Why?” Zuko frowned and looked around. This was an Earth Kingdom port, full of people who were his enemy. People of the Earth were built larger and more solid. It made him feel small.

It also was annoying to see the common folk laughing working, talking and gossiping just as they had at the few colony ports he had been allowed to visit… before Ozai amended his banishment decree to include that he was not to set foot in the colonies, as well. Afterward, his ship was only allowed in ports neutral to the war, and even then he had to wear a hood. Of course, he often snuck ashore under a blue spirit mask. Anyway, it was strange to see people act the same in both nations. Shouldn’t they be… different?

“There has to be an earthbending master around here, somewhere. Maybe I can threaten someone into teaching me something,” Zuko continued, though lower. There were a few burly looking men nearby, and he did not want to be seen talking to himself.

 _Vessel_ , Vaatu said. _What makes you think you are capable of earthbending?_

“What do you mean, what do I mean?” he demanded. “Wasn't that the point of all this?”

 _The point was to break free of the interminable tree of time_ , the spirit said. _But it is true: now that we have merged you have the potential of bending all four elements. But earth, water, and air have not been unlocked within you._

For the first time since leaving the North Pole, Zuko felt cold. He thought again to his mother's old stories. The quaint fables with Avatar Wan. Now that he thought about it, the first Avatar had not come into his bending the moment he merged with Raava. In fact… had he needed Raava at all?

 _Yes and no_ , Vaatu said. _A human spirit can only hold one element at a time. Merged as we are, I hold the other elements inside you._

“You could have told me before!” Zuko snapped, then looked away as a nearby family looked scandalized at him. He scowled and turned down the nearest alleyway. “Then what do I do?”

_There are three ways to bend an element. The first is to be born with the potential. The second is to fully understand the nature of that element and to accept it within your own spirit. This can sometimes be accomplished by with a lifetime of meditation and contemplation. Even then, it is rare. The third, of course, is to visit an ancient Lion Turtle. They may grant you the capability to bend the element of their choosing._

Zuko frowned and pinched the bridge of his nose. Lion Turtles were the stuff of myths. “I don't suppose you know where any ten-thousand year old Lion Turtles happen to be hiding, do you?"

 _Go East, Vessel_ , Vaatu said.

Zuko picked up his pack and traveled east.

The roads were dusty, and it was tiring and slow to walk on foot, Zuko thought about stealing an ostrich horse or perhaps liberating a Komodo rhino from his father’s army, but Vaatu would allow neither. It was a shame. He had always heard that the Avatar had an animal companion, and he liked the image of himself riding around on a Komodo Rhinoceros. Yes, they were foul-tempered and stank like rotten ash, but he’d always wanted one as a kid.

He spent the small amount of coin he had been given for shore leave on hardtack food. It did not last long. He ran out in the middle a vast evergreen forest.

Vaatu did not seem to be concerned. _We are nearly there_ , he said, _Go East._

 _Go East_ , Zuko repeated mockingly and kicked a rock just to watch it sail away. It struck with satisfaction against the trunk of a large evergreen tree. Maybe soon he would know how to do that with earthbending. That thought took him out of his dark mood.

On cue, his stomach growled.

He continued to walk east. The next day, in the vee of two ridges, he came upon the opening entrance of a large cave.

Zuko paused, frowning. The mouth of the cave was large enough to hold an army, but it seemed to be entirely deserted.

Then again, the only drawings of ancient Lion Turtles had shown they’d been large enough to hold entire communities of hapless humans on their backs.

For a dizzying second, he looked at the vast mountain peaks and wondered if they were the bumps and ridges on the shell of an unimaginably large Lion Turtle. If so, what was his opening? An ear canal? A nostril?

“What is this?" he asked.

_The way to unlock your earthbending, if you are strong enough._

Zuko frowned. “Of course I am.” Then, kindling fire in the palm of his hand, he strode in.

The cave was… cavelike. Not much to it. Full of loose rubble and slippery patches that caught him by surprise until he learned to watch for the reflection of wet rock on the ground.

He walked further and further in, noting no signs of other human beings. It was just a normal cave. He didn’t hear breathing or the pulse of a heartbeat as if he were entering a giant animal, or anything.

“Hello?” he called, and heard his voice echo over and over again down the long, long tunnel. With a shrug, he walked on.

Whenever he came to a fork in the tunnel, he chose a direction at random. Vaatu didn't offer an opinion. He seemed to be waiting with the patience of a being who had been stuck in a tree for ten thousand years.

Zuko walked on. He was already very hungry, and burning a constant flame did not help.

Soon his water skin was dry. He had been walking for hours. He was certain the sun must be down by now. And he stopped and realized… He could not feel the sun.

With a curse, Zuko quickly turned and headed back the way he came. But he had taken the right tunnel last time, hadn’t he? The cave floor was too stony to show footprints.

He made his best guess, turning down one tunnel and then turning again. Then once more, running now. Panicked. Each tunnel within the cave system looked the same, and yet was completely different. He ran until his breath came out ragged and he had to drop into a fast walk.

Eventually, hungry, thirsty, and the constant drag of effort to keep the flame lit was too much. His concentration slipped and the fire went out.

The darkness that swept over him was instant and all-consuming. Darker than the darkest night. There was not a hint of light, nothing in the suffocating darkness. He was too deep within the earth to feel the position of the sun.

In panic, he quickly lit the fire again and breathed a sigh of relief. But the flame in his palm was small and shaky, as fluttery as the rapid beat of his heart.

“Hello? Um, honored Lion Turtle?… Somebody… Can somebody hear me?”

His voice echoed down the long, endless tunnels and bounced back to him a hundred times, sounding distorted and scared.

“Vaatu, enough of this!” he snarled. “Where is Lion Turtle?”

 _Vessel_ , the spirit replied, sounding almost pitying. _The Lion Turtles, with very few exceptions, have been gone from this world for millennia._

“I don't understand. What do you mean? Why did you bring me here?”

_In order to bend the earth, one must you must learn to understand the earth better than you know yourself._

There were three ways to learn to bend: Being born with the ability, gaining the ability from a Lion Turtle, or…

Horror swept through him, instant and cold. “But you said it would take a lifetime.”

 _Perhaps_ , Vaatu replied. _But those did not have the great spirit of chaos to aid them._

“No. No! I'm not doing this. I'm getting out of here.” Cupping the delicate flame in front of him, he started walking, then falling into a heavy jog once he fully got his breath back. If he were able to feel the sun, he would have a direction of where to go… but he was too deep, and even Agni’s rays lay out of reach.

The twisting tunnels went on and on and on. One after the other in an endless maze. No water. No food. No sound. Just the earth around him. Uncountable tons of it pressing down. He felt like he was drowning and there was no escape in sight. For all he knew, he was only heading deeper.

Eventually, Zuko had to stop. The fire flickered and died.

Absolute blackness pressed against his eyeballs like a force.

 _Here, in this system there are no bioluminescent creatures to guide your way_ , Vaatu said. _You will only leave this cave system by earthbending your way out._

“I don't know how!” he snapped. He pressed one fist to the wall, but the stone was inert and unreachable to him. “What if I can’t?”

_Then you will die, and you will try again in your next life._

“You’re crazy!” Zuko turned, started blindly forward, then staggered as the toe of his boot caught an imperfection in the stone. “This can't be happening. You’re a spirit—Do something! I have to get out of here. You have to get me out! Vaatu! Answer me! You son of a—“

Vaatu was silent, taking his abuse with stoicism.

Eventually, Zuko lost the energy even to scream at Vaatu. He felt his way to the nearest wall. And, hunching against it, brought his legs to his chest and rested.

He must've slept, because when he dreamed it was of the meadow Vaatu had once shown him to explain chaos and order.

He dreamed the spirit was intoning: _The soil is alive, Vessel._

And this time Zuko saw beneath the meadow. Not only the soil, but bugs, worms, rodents, and other creatures within the ground. Most were too small for the eye, but Zuko saw and knew them anyway. An entire planet full of tiny creatures he had never conceived in his wildest imagination. With the sense of a born firebender, he recognized them as tiny motes, like flames in the darkness.

Vaatu took him deeper.

All that soil lay like a skin above miles and miles of stone. And that lay on top of the fire he knew so well within his own heart. There was a heartbeat in the center of the earth—both alien and familiar. The slow grinding pulse of magma. It was beautiful. It was terrible.

Forces erupted from this orange core in the center of the world. A force Zuko didn’t fully understand, even with the spirit-sight. It moved the rock, strong enough to crush it together and rip it apart… but had no effect on flesh.

He understood in the dream he would learn this force, too, if he ever hoped to earthbend.

Zuko woke to the same pitch blackness. Having no idea where the sun was made him feel dizzy and unmoored, like a ship drifting at sea.

He was so thirsty. It felt like his insides were dry. Too dry to risk firebending. But Zuko was not about to sit and let death take him.

Slowly, cautiously, he felt his way forward. Before he realized he was lost, he remembered seeing tunnels with trickles of limey water, but that had been a long time ago.

Running his fingers against the edge of the wall, he continued onward, stumbling when his shoes hit loose rocks. He walked and walked. And eventually had to sit and rest again.

Vaatu offered no advice. He seemed to be waiting.

“I can't die like this,” Zuko said, and got up and forced himself to walk again.

Eventually, his legs would not hold him anymore. He fell into a stupor, moving forward. He knew he must've hit other twists in the tunnels— sometimes he even hit dead ends and had to retrace his steps. It all became a blur, like he was asleep and his body was carrying him forward by habit alone.

Then, suddenly, his boots hit something soft and weirdly yielding. He tripped, falling half upon it.

He didn't understand what was, except it was soft and furry and cold… And very very still.

Carefully, he reached. It was a body. Not human, but nearly as big as one. Soft and very very cold. A carcass of some sort of animal?

Abruptly there was a vibration to his right. A low vibrating rumble.

Hot, moist air huffed over his face.

Zuko jerked back with a shocked sound. Although he could not see, he had the impression something was very large and very big was right next to him.

The air—the breath—huffed over him again. He slapped wildly at the air and his hands hit nothing.

It was huge, dwarfing Zuko in size. It was a very large animal sniffing at him. The breath that fell over him smelled sweet, like flowers.

There was a second rumble. Another breath washed over him. Less sweet, but accompanied by a deep rumble he felt in his breastbone.

“What… What?” he tried to rise, but dizziness made it hard and he tripped over his own feet and fell down again. Next to the corpse. Quickly, he scrambled away—only to hit his head on a low outcropping of rock.

 _Calm yourself, Vessel,_ Vaatu said, speaking for the first time in hours. _These are giant badgermoles._

Zuko's head spun. Although he could picture the creatures—they were featured in an Earth Kingdom story scroll he loved as a child—He could not remember if they were carnivores or herbivores.

Then he remembered what he had tripped over.

The last puzzle piece clicked into place. These were two giant badgermoles, and he had tripped over a much smaller one. Their offspring perhaps. Their very cold, very still, offspring.

He really did have the worst luck in the world.

Zuko froze. “I didn't kill it," he said, voice harsh, and wondering why he was speaking to animals. But he couldn't run even if he had the energy.

He highly doubted the animals would understand or care. Their baby was dead, and he had been found next to it.

The badgermoles snuffed and rumbled at one another, sounding like monsters in the dark. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to brace himself to death, hoping he would be quick and also that Vaatu blamed himself for eternity forgetting his first vessel killed.

Then suddenly something brushed against his shoulder. He swatted away, and his fingers encountered some kind of rough vegetation; cool and wet.

He did not think, his dry tongue and dehydrated body made the decision for him. In a second, he tore it away, and stuffed it in his mouth.

He bit down and explosion of water hit his tongue. Watercress-moss.It was a delicacy in the Fire Nation—a plant made mostly of water meant for tiny, delicate salads or palate cleansers between courses. He never realized it had been imported from the Earth Kingdom.

More watercress-moss brushed against his cheek, along with large warm whuffing breath that smelled like flowers.

He took more, and his fingers encountered a furred whiskered snout. One of the badgermoles was offering him food.

Zuko did not understand, but took it and shoved it in his mouth.

 _Slowly, Vessel._ _You will make yourself sick._

“You don't have a body. What would you know?" he snapped back, but slowed down enough to suck the juice from the watercress before chewing.

Abruptly, something soft whumphed against him, knocking him over. A warm furry body settled so close it touched.

Zuko froze.

There was a deep rumbling, the sound of rolling rocks, and a second badgermole settled on his other side. He was encased between two walls of bristly yet warm fur. The badgermoles did not seem to be angry at him, or blame him for the death of their offspring. They were… Protecting him? Cuddling him?

“I don’t understand,” he hissed under his breath. “They aren’t angry?”

 _No, Vessel_ , Vaatu said as if Zuko were being very dumb. _This mated pair recently lost their young one. Now a mewling, helpless, creature stumbled into them._

He blinked. Not that it made any difference in the absolute dark, but… “I am not their child.

_Would you rather be their enemy?_

Considering each one of these things were as big as an Earth Kingdom house? No.

Zuko’s ire increased. “You mean to tell me,” he ground out, “that these two badgermoles adopted me?”

_So it would seem._

“But I’m not their baby!”

Perhaps, do not tell them that.

He groaned and the badgermole with the sweet breath turned to nuzzle him. Irritated, Zuko pushed her snout away. “I have the spirit’s damned worst luck.”

 _No. You are the container of the spirit of chaos.You have more capability of change and odd once-in-a-lifetime circumstance than most carry in their little finger._ A pause. _You may think of it as chaotic luck._

“That’s ridiculous,” he muttered sullenly under his breath, but not loud. Judging by the deep, regular breathing, the two badgermoles on either side of him was asleep.

He knew he should escape, but he was exhausted. His thirst and hunger had only been somewhat sated, but even that small relief increased his exhaustion.

As much as he hated to admit it, he was comfortable. He felt himself relaxing almost against his will. Soon, he was asleep.

When he dreamed, it was of the earth and soil under the meadow.

He woke the next morning by something flower scented licking his cheek.

“Ugh!” He tried to push the giant muzzle away, but it—she, whatever—was much too strong for him.

Zuko had to no choice but to submit to a couple more licks before the badgermole was satisfied. The flower scented breath animal gave him more watercress-moss to chew—where was it getting the moss from?

Reluctantly, Zuko took it anyway.

So began his first day as an adopted badgermole.

Zuko quickly found that speaking out loud upset them. Perhaps they didn’t like human voices, or maybe it sounded like distressed badgermole babies. Either way, he tried to remain quiet. Nor did he dare kindle fire. badgermoles were supposedly blind, but they were also as big as a house and equally strong. The last thing he wanted to do was startle them. Especially since they seemed to be his meal ticket.

In his mind, he labeled what the flower scented breath, Flower, and the second one Rumbles because it always seemed to be rumbling something in a deep vibrating tone. Flower was the one who offered him the watercress-moss on a regular basis. Because it seemed more maternally inclined, he suspected it might be the female of the pair, though he wasn't sure.

The badgermoles like to travel through the tunnels. For lack of any other idea, he followed them—shuffling along as they walked the passages and rumbled back and forth to one another.

Hopefully, they would go travel up to the surface to feed every once in a while.

It wasn’t much, but it was the only plan he had. Even with Flower’s, hopeful offerings of watercress-moss and some kind of hard root that took a while to chew through, Zuko was weakening.

He wasn’t a baby badgermole. His body could not survive indefinitely off ruffage.

The badgermoles didn't exactly move quickly, but after a few days, he found it hard to keep up with them. They also made no move to travel to the service.

“I have to get out of here,” he whispered weakly, slumping against a tunnel wall. He pressed the flat hands against cold, alien stone and pushed. Nothing happened.

 _You must unlock your connection to the Earth,_ Vaatu said.

Zuko bared his teeth. “How?”

His voice echoed again and again through the tunnels. Rumbles rumbled back in concern.

The spirit did not answer. Zuko thought that he probably didn’t know.

Again, he dreamed.

Two days later, he knew he was in deep trouble. He was dizzy all the time and could barely follow the two badgermoles on their slow, plodding pace. He stopped, leaning against the side of the cave, feeling the inky dark world swim around him.

He missed the sun.

Rumbles came up to him, nuzzling him so hard that it knocked Zuko over.

“What?” Zuko rasped.

The badgermole nudged something into his hands.

The thing was hard and dry and wiggled against his fingers. Zuko dropped it out of startled reflex, but then just as quickly scooped it back up. It was too dry and large to be a worm. Some kind of insect. A grub perhaps

 _No, I can't_ , he thought in was panic. Then, involuntarily, he flashed to a childhood memory of a Fire Festival where spiced crickets were served to one and all. A wave of homesickness rolled up within him, along with the certain knowledge that he would die if he didn’t do this. His body needed protein.

With a wretched cry, Zuko bit into the still wriggling grub. The little body exploded in his mouth, the outside tasting like dust, and in the inside gooey and delicious. He swallowed every last bit, and then put his head in his hands and wept while the two badgermoles snuffed in concern over him.

He had never in his life felt so low. Not even after the Agni Kai, because he still had some hope of finding the Avatar and regaining his armor.

Now, it felt that part of him who had been Prince of the Fire Nation had died in the tunnels. He didn’t know the person who had been reborn in his place.

The badgermoles continued to fuss over him, and eventually Zuko got himself back under control.

“I’m fine. I’m fine,” he whispered gruffly, rubbing each nose in return.

Within a few minutes, Rumbles peeled off and returned with another fat grub. Zuko ate it along with some watercress-moss. Soon, he felt much better.

His entire world narrowed down to the lightless tunnels. He followed the two badgermoles around, unsure what direction they were traveling, or if there was any at all.

He became used to listening for water sources, and using his sense of smell to guide him to the target. He would drink long and deep from tiny rivulets of water that seeped through tunnel walls, or one time, a vast underground lake who’s edges he could not see. When he gingerly submerged to wash, he could not feel a bottom.

His sense of hearing—damaged by the Agni Kai— sharpened.One day, he realized he could identify each badgermole not from who what offered him what kind of food, but just from the sounds and that they made. The subtle gait of their movement and breathing.

badgermoles were clean, fastidious creatures. Always on the move. Sometimes they following along existing cave tunnels, sometimes creating their own.

It startled Zuko badly the first time. Rumbles turned in place and started gouging into the raw stone to create an entirely new tunnel. It took Zuko two days after that to realize Rumbles wasn't actually digging at all: He was bending the earth.

Animals could be benders? But of course they could. Dragons could breathe fire. Air bison could fly. Why couldn't badgermoles bend earth?

And suddenly he knew why the cave tunnels were so incredibly twisty and nonsensical.

He should've been angry. Instead, he found he was amazed and a little chagrinned. This wasn’t a natural cave system at all. It was a badgermole colony. And if only one pair could do all this… no wonder he had not been able to find his way out.

Zuko came to know the tunnels—or at least aspects of them. Different types of rock felt different against his seeking fingers. Some were almost soft to lay on. Some mineral-rich and sharp. He had no names for the different types, but he learned their feel and scent like he had once known the different degrees of flame. Fire may look the same—unless they were spectacular blue like Azula’s, but—firebenders knew the difference.

Eventually, too, he learned from careful observation, listening sharp while Flower gathered food, that watercress-moss grew up high in the tunnels. Almost to the curve of the ceiling.

There were divots and slight imperfections gouged out of the tunnel walls. They had been invisible to him back when he used sight, but were easily felt… and sometimes, it seemed, heard. By using these, he could climb and gather the watercress-moss himself.

He didn't think it was his imagination. Flower seemed to be thrilled the first time he did this. The moment he jumped down to land in a spot he knew—though he was yet aware how—would be clear of rocks and debris, she snuffled over him, knocking him over in happiness.

The grubs lived among the thickest patches of watercress, and he learned to hunt for them, too.

Gradually, the sounds expanded in quality around him. He realized he could usually tell the size and depth of a tunnel just by the rumbles of the badgermoles—the feel of the vibrations against the wall.

When they came to a junction of two tunnels, he knew which direction they turned. Slowly but surely, his dark world came into focus. He did not see it with his eyes, or hear it—although his hearing helped. There was another sense unfurling so slowly within him, he was only half aware all.

Still, every night, he dreamed of the earth in a way no human was meant to see.

Slowly, Zuko began to understand the slow movement of the earth. The grind of great plates of rock above magma, the worldwide forces that brought stone together and pushed it apart, the great crystal matrix of stone itself.

And then the day came when he was climbing the side of a tunnel in search of food, his palms pressed flat to the rock, and he felt/saw/sensed/ _knew_ a scratch-scratch of a grub not far away. He is hand darted out and he snatched it up, exactly where he knew it would be.

When Rumbles dug, Zuko felt/saw the stones fall away—the crumble and cleave as the badgermole moved tons of earth as if it was nothing. Rumbles was not using his strength alone. There were cheats and shortcuts—manipulating the forces of magnetism, as he had learned in his nightly visions. But not all earth was magnetic. For the inert compounds, the badgermoles used their willwhich was equal to the hardest rock.

They were certainly not official earthbending moves, but it got the job done. The badgermoles were experts in shoving literal tons of debris away in a single sweep, of sinking stalagmites and stalactites back into the walls before someone could brush painfully against it.

The watercress-moss did not grow in areas untended.

They were cleaning the tunnels as much as they were digging new ones. Keeping them tidy and free of large debris that would that might harm another badgermole. Or a very lost human.

The next day, Zuko took off his boots and socks, and tied the shoelaces together so he could string them over his neck and went barefoot.

The vibrations of his own footsteps and the constant rumbles of the badgermoles told him everything he needed to know of this tunnel—as well as other, unseen tunnels running parallel and across nearby.

He felt the different types of stone, like shades of color, through the tunnel. Absently, he moved past a stalagmite that he would have tripped over weeks ago.

He studied with crafted patience he had never used before, as Flower and Rumbles dug; Cleaving with the grain of the stone for some tunnels, against it for others.

Zuko walked forward to stand beside him. Pressing his hands, set his stance—set his will—and shoved hard, concentrating on the rocks and bits of magnetic force he could feel running through the stone.

He shoved and it moved.

Instantly, both badgermoles turned, he had to duck to avoid enthusiastic snuffling. 

Was this what it felt like to feel a parent's approval?

He stroked their snouts and pushed back in the rough, affectionate way they responded to the best.

Then, with a snort, Rumbles pushed Zuko back to stand beside him and “watch” as he widened the tunnel with a few easy sweeps of his giant paws.

Zuko watched the purpose and will to Rumbles movement and tried to copy it the best he could. As he became more confident, he learned how to shove more and more stone aside, with greater precision.He learned to pull the earth to him as well, using the magnetism and force of will. Different types of rock required different methods—some brute force, but some delicate precision to avoid shattering the inner matrix.

Once, a long time ago, when he was a different person, he thought earthbending was all about kicking rocks around.

He had been so blind.

Then, came the day Flower and Rumbles hit a dead end in the tunnel system. The two adults snuffled around a little, rumbled back and forth in that odd way that made it sound like they were having a conversation.

Flower turned to breathe over Zuko, then pushed him forward with her snout against his back.

They wanted him to lead the way.

 _Well, what are you waiting for?_ Vaatu asked.

Zuko grinned and pushed in the rock, moving it forward and away with targeted kicks and shoves. He spread his hands, shoving mentally and physically, clearing with the cleave of stone. Once he had a good start, he widened the cave into a tunnel of his own— being sure to recrystallize the walls thick enough to take the weight of the earth around them.

Again, he was set on by two snuffling badgermoles in rough celebration. But this time they didn’t practically knock him over. They were almost respectful.

They spent the day as a family widening the tunnel, though Flower and Rumbles kept stepping back to let him lead. Then, with one last effort, he connected his tunnel with an older one that intersected diagonally.

That night, for the first time, the two badgermoles did not sleep on either side with him in the middle. They spent that night nuzzling him as if to say he had done a good job.

For the first time since entering the tunnels, Zuko did not dream.

When he woke the next morning, Flower and Rumbles were gone.

He was confused and even hurt. They weren't his parents, but he had become to know them as friends. Now, they had abandoned him.

 _You are an adult in their eyes_ , Vaatu said. _You can now feed yourself and create your own tunnels. You were their strange child grown to take on adult duties. That means caving your own tunnels through the mountain._

“But… but I'm not a badgermole,” he said, using his voice for the first time in… he wasn't sure how long.

_No, you are not a badgermole. You are the Avatar of Chaos. One, who has condensed a lifetime of contemplation of the earth into six weeks. Now it's time to leave this place. Rise, earthbender, and rejoin the human world._


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh no, this plot is growing! I increased the chapter count by one.

Zuko raised one barefoot and stomped.

In his mind's eye, the tunnels extended all around him like branches within a twisted tree. He had no belongings to pack, and there were no goodbyes to be said. His adopted “parents” had already left him.

He simply started walking.

He had lost track of where he was within the mountain almost as soon as he had first arrived. So with no direction in mind, he took the paths which curved upward.

Eventually, he found tunnels that had none of the earmarks of Rumbles and Flower's making. The walls were rougher in some places, smoother in others. As if a badgermole with slightly different taste had carved them out.

Zuko kept walking.

Ever since he had been lost underground, he had not felt the sun. He had no way to tell the time and no sense of how long he had been lost within the mountain… other than Vaatu’s assurances it had been around six weeks.

He slept for long periods of time twice before, finally, he found a tunnel that led to the way out.

His first whiff of air fresh air told him he was close. He broke into a run. Then, after the next curve, the cave simply… Ended.

He blinked and looked up at a world that seemed impossibly bright and large, even though it was the middle of the night. The stars sparkled overhead in the clear velvet sky. The first thing he had seen in over a month and a half.

He had a dizzying impression of the sky itself like a giant cave with the stars wheeling overhead where the moss watercress-moss usually grew.

Zuko sank to a sitting position until his vertigo passed.

There he waited, listening to night sounds as that were both familiar and yet alien to him. Much different than the silence of the cave.

The sun slowly began to rise. The first ray of light hit his skin. Instantly, it was as if he'd been plunged into a warm bath. He had missed this. He had missed the sun.

Squinting his eyes against the bare glimmer of dawn, he tore his shirt off and let the rising sun beat on his bare skin.

He had spent the last six weeks learning to be an earthbender, but he had been born a firebender, and his body's allegiance would always be to the sun.

It wasn't until midmorning that Zuko felt he had gotten his fill of the light. He got up, shielding his eyes from the too-bright sky, put on his shirt and the boots he had kept with him, and set out again.

He had no direction—had no idea where he had come out of the vast cave complex. The trees seemed scragglier and the land dryer then when he had come in. Zuko suspected that he had traveled his way entirely through the mountain chain. The other side sat in a rain-shadow where the storms could not reach.

He was still able to find a river that dumped out into a clear pool. Zuko dived in, clothes and all. The grit from weeks of living underground billowed from him like a cloud in the water.

He found some soft soap rock that Uncle had once out in hot springs, and scrubbed until he could finally see skin underneath grit. Then he soaked again. His hair—he had not thought about his hair in a long time. He had shaved it almost entirely after leaving the North Pole. It had now grown out, though nowhere near long enough to tie into a proper top knot. He scrubbed his hair anyway with the soft soapstone. Dirty tangles washed downstream. Malnutrition had caused some hairloss, but it was growing back, too.

Then he lay out on the hottest sunniest rock to dry.

"I need to find out any news about the war,” he said at length, “Or rumors about the other Avatar. And I need to find earthbending master."

 _Shall you join an earthbending school, Vessel?_ Vaatu sneered. _Stand in perfect lines with other students and practice the same dull forms over and over along with them?_

“No," he said quietly, firmly. “Not like that, but I can’t go around earthbending like a badgermole. I need to learn how to fight with it."

Vaatu was quiet for a moment. Zuko got the impression he was thinking.

 _Go east_ , Vaatu said at last.

“Why? The last time I followed your directions, you got me lost in the mountains.”

 _Because_ _Raava’s vessel_ _is east._ _I have no doubt_ _Raava_ _has the same need as we do: Find an earthbending master._

“You think the avatar—the _other_ avatar,” though that did not sound right either. "Avatar Aang has mastered waterbending already?"

_I don't know. But I can sense my other half to the east._

Zuko started to walk and then frowned, stopping again. “Does that mean Avatar Aang can sense me, too?"

 _Perhaps. But it is unlikely he knows what you are._ Vaatu chuckled darkly within Zuko's mind. _Raava believes me to be still encased within the tree of time. She thinks she is still free to arrange the world without challenge._

East again, then.

Well, there was nowhere else he needed to be. His own ship was long gone. It was very likely he could learn news of the war from a Fire Nation Patrol. Perhaps he could find a way to send word to his father that there were now _two_ avatars the world… though Ozai never indicated he’d read his letters before.

Would he even be glad to know that Zuko was alive? Zuko would've liked to think so, but Vaatu scoffed deep with his mind.

The trees thinned further as he walked. The land became drier. Zuko had never tried to hunt land animals for his food, but he had also never had the sensitivity of the earth before. Kneeling, he placed one hand on the ground and felt the movement of animals nearby, large and small. Even then, catching them was difficult.

There were always grubs. He had grown a taste for them, though it was worse now that he could actually _see_ them.

His eyes, too, had adjusted to light again. By the third day, he no longer had to squint.

Eventually, the rolling hills turned into a dry, dusty plain. Zuko walked on, following a road that had wagon wheel ruts. There were no travelers within sight, but signs of war were everywhere. Occasionally he would come upon an old wagon—either scorched by fire or the wheels shattered by rocks. Armies of both nations traveled the road.

The abandoned wagons were picked clean, but by using his earth-sense he found a hidden cache, half-buried: A teapot with packets of old, old tea.

Memories of Uncle Iroh and his stupid obsession with tea made him pause. He did not want it, but he took the teapot and spices anyway, tucking them away in a half-rotten pack he’d also scavenged.

It was coming on to late afternoon, and the sun had grown hot. There are some boulders nearby and he thought about using them for shelter for the night. He walked towards them.

Suddenly, Zuko felt/saw/sensed a ripple in the earth. But with boots over his feet, his earth-sense was muffled, and he was too slow to react.

The soil lurched to the side and he fell flat on his butt.

His hands hit the earth, and he saw/felt/sensed his attacker a second before his eyes located her.

A girl dressed in green and cream stained clothing stood upon the boulder. Her fisted hands jammed against her hips. "You thought you could sneak up on me, didn't you?" she demanded.

 _Do not use fire with this one, Vessel._ Vaatu warned.

That was fine. He had no desire to burn a kid. He'd just trip her on her butt and see how _she_ liked a bruised tailbone.

Zuko's answer was to slam one palm forward. The boulder she was standing on skidded away.

However, the girl must have anticipated him, because she easily jumped to the ground before she could be tripped up.

The second she landed, the ground rippled again; a mini tsunami that caught Zuko up and rolled him over and over.

He stopped rolling with his back to her, but felt/saw/sensed a rock the size of a melon-cantaloupe aimed for his back.

Zuko did not think, he swung a fist behind himself and struck the rock from the air, crumbling it into harmless dust. He turned and used the force of the movement to slam a spike of earth upward at her.

The girl easily sidestepped it as if she had known it was coming.

But she did not strike back. Instead, she stared at Zuko. Or, at least, faced his direction.

"You aren’t blind," she said.

He ignored the question. "Why did you attack me?"

The girl cocked her head. “Your back was turned, but you knew my stone was coming. How?"

Since she didn't seem to be interested in attacking him anymore. Zuko lowered his fists. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Try me," she challenged.

 _I'm an Avatar_ , he thought, but what he said was, "I learned from badgermoles."

A slow, wide smile spread over her face. Her head lifted and her irises were milky jade green. This tiny girl was blind.

"So did I."

* * *

_I wish Uncle were here_ , Zuko thought not for the first time. He was self-aware enough to know his social skills were… lacking. It was to be expected. He just didn't know how to speak with commoners.

Uncle had been royalty, too, but he never seemed to have that problem. Zuko had depended on him for delicate negotiation while at port. He’d watched Uncle charm merchants dozens of times while he’d scowled in the background, feeling young and ugly with his scar, and inadequate as a leader.

Now Uncle had probably been welcomed back to the Fire Nation with honors enough to wipe away his disgrace at Ba Sing Se… Assuming he and Zhao had won the Siege of the North.

And Zuko was stuck on a dusty Earth Kingdom plain, making inadequate tea for a stranger.

The tea had been his idea. He had watched his uncle do it a hundred times. How bad it could be?

Pretty bad, judging by the look on the girl’s face after her first sip.

She stuck out her tongue. "This is awful. " 

“I had to scavenge it. The tealeaves are probably years old. What do you expect?" he snapped, stung.

She tried a second sip, made another face, and then tossed the tea over her shoulder. Cup and all.

He winced, but since she had somehow bent pure ceramic from the soil to make the cup, he couldn't complain.

"So," she said, "What's a child of the badgermoles doing out here?"

"I grew up," he replied. "At least in their eyes. Once I learned to see the world as they did and learned to move a few rocks around, they left so I could dig my own tunnels or whatever."

She raised her eyebrows, which was disconcerting considering her unfocused gaze was somewhere over Zuko's left shoulder. "You mean, you weren't an earthbender before?"

"No. I got lost in the mountain caves to the west. I had to learn to connect with the earth, or die.”

“Well, that explains your awful earthbending stance.”

He glared at her. "What about you?”

She shrugged. "My parents saw a little delicate blind girl who couldn't take care of himself. The badgermoles taught me everything important I needed to know. The rest, I learned from beating up guys in Earth Rumbles. I was the Grand Champion of Rumbles four and five, and I would have won six, except for a cheating-cheater.”

 _Interesting_ , Vaatu said. _A self-taught master._

 _‘You think she’s a master?’_ Zuko silently asked.

 _Oh yes. I can feel her strength through your connection with the earth. Also, she carries the will of_ _Vaatu in her heart._

 _‘It’s annoying when you talk about yourself in third person,’_ Zuko sniped.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Toph said.

Zuko glanced up, realizing he had been silent on the outside. He had gotten used to sinking into his own thoughts to converse with Vaatu. It wasn’t like the badgermoles expected him to talk aloud.

Toph continued, “You’re thinking: Poor little blind girl. She’s lost and can’t look out for herself.”

“No," Zuko said. “I’m trying to figure out how many enemies you left behind from your Earth Rumbles, and how many of those are on your trail.”

She barked out a surprised laugh, even though Zuko had been completely serious. He had enough enemies of his own: Zhao, the pirates, the other Avatar. He did not need more.

“What are you doing here, anyway?” he asked. “It’s the middle of nowhere.”

She was silent for a moment before taking another sip of tea with a wince. “I was at the top of my game as the Earth Rumble Champion. I was so good it had become easy—not that my parents knew, or understood. Then I got talked into taking on a student. I dropped everything, disobeyed my parents, ran away from fame and fortune. And how was I repaid?.” Her voice became whiny and nasally in an obvious parody of someone else. “‘Why don’t you pitch in, Toph’? ‘Everyone sets up camp.’ ‘You need to pull your weight, Toph.’”

"Wait." Zuko held up his hand. "Your _student_ told you to help set up camp every night?"

Toph threw her hands up in the air. "I know! Plus, I _was_ carrying my weight. They just wanted me to carry their weight, too.”

"… Did they do not know how a teacher-student teacher relationship works?"

Zuko wasn't entirely sure how it worked in the Earth Kingdom, but in the Fire Nation the student had to prove his dedication to his master. Even as a prince, he had to humble himself by doing small chores for his firebending instructor. Small, inconsequential things that fit his station such as arranging for the servants to bring his instructor's meals on time, tidying up the training spaces, and filling the water and sand buckets before each lesson.

That, of course, had gone out the window once he was banished and Uncle Iroh took over. There could be no normal student-master relationship when Zuko was both Prince and captain of the ship.

But as far as he understood it, commoners in the Fire Nation were seen as full apprentices to their masters. They did not ask their teachers to do chores on their behalf.

"Exactly!" Toph said. "I wasn't asking for him to wash my clothes or do anything I wouldn't do for myself. I was happy for a chance to get away from my parents and see the world. But I’m wasn't going to pull my ungrateful student and his friends behind me, either."

Ungrateful student and his friends... Something about that tickled the back of his mind.

 _Pay attention, Vessel,_ Vaatu said sharply. _It is no coincidence that you have met her here and now. She is a master seeking a student._

Zuko nodded and said, "So what now?"

Toph shrugged. For the first time, she looked uncertain.

“Will your parents welcome you back if you returned?” Thinking of his own home was still like prodding a half-healed wound. There was a time, before Vaatu, he would have done _anything_ to regain his honor and be welcomed home. However, Earth Kingdom customs were different, especially for the girls who had run off with a male, unchaperoned.

“They would take me back,” Toph said easily. “I’m the only kid they have, but I would be put under guard twenty-four seven. So I’m _not_ going back.”

He could feel Vaatu prodding him from the middle of his mind. Zuko looked down at his own cup, realizing he hadn’t bothered to taste his tea. He did now and spit it out again. It was vile. So much for buttering her up.

There was probably some nice, slick, Commander Zhao-oily way of asking, but he wasn't sure where to start. Azula would know. Uncle would know. But he didn't want to threaten or flatter.

The only thing he could do was be himself.

"I don't know if it is fate, destiny, or just good luck for once in my life—“ _Or the luck of chaos_ , “—but I am in search of an earthbending master."

Toph was silent, her face as expressionless as stone.

Zuko rushed on. “I technically know how to earthbend, but not how to use it as a martial art. And… You would have my respect. I can promise that, more than your previous student. Even if you don't want to—which I would not blame you for—it would be nice to have a traveling companion to the next town. I haven't talked to anybody but badgermoles for… a long time."

She held up one tiny hand and he stumbled to a stop.

“Yeah, I can tell. You're kind of an awkward turtleduck, aren't you?"

He swallowed down instinctive anger drawn from hurt. "I didn't exactly have a normal childhood, either,” he muttered. “It didn't help."

"Okay."

It took him a beat to realize that she was saying yes to him and not just responding to the awkward comment. "Really?" It couldn't be that easy…

A shark-like smile spread over her features. "On a few conditions."

Zuko put down his tea. "I'm listening."

“One: I don't expect to be bowed over, but I am caring _only_ my own weight, and I _will_ be treated with respect.”

Zuko nodded and then realized she couldn't see him, but before he could answer, she continued.

“Two: If you turn out to be are a terrible student, I can cut you loose at any time."

“That's fair.”

“Last thing,” she said. “You're getting rid of those.” She pointed down.

It took him a few seconds to understand. "My boots?"

“If you want to learn from this Master, then you will learn _like_ this Master.” She hooked the thumb to her own chest. “That means no shoes and you’ll be wearing a blindfold. My last student thought he could flitter-flutter around without taking earthbending seriously, and that ain’t happening again.”

The Zuko of old would have flat-out refused, but he had spent weeks in total darkness. Lack of light held no fear for him anymore. At least he would still feel the sun on his skin. "The shoes are fine, but I'm taking the blindfold off at night to sleep."

She waved a hand. “Suit yourself.”

Belatedly, he remembered his courtesy stood to bow low, Earth Kingdom style, to her."I find those conditions acceptable, Master Toph."

She stood and bowed as well, shallower, as befitting a Master to student.

It should have been ridiculous. She was several years his junior and tiny to boot, but Vaatu was right: there was a world of power in her.

“I look forward to teaching you, student Turtleduck.”

* * *

They set out the next morning.

Blindfolded, Zuko did not see the skybison flying high overhead.

And those looking down over the saddle for Aang’s earthbending master were frantically searching for one figure, not two.


	3. Chapter 3

For the third time within an hour, Zuko found himself knocked flat on his back.

"What was that?" asked the very unimpressed voice of his earthbending master.

Zuko could not reply. The air had been knocked out of his lungs. Chest heaving, he stared up at the perfectly clear blue sky. He'd landed so hard his blindfold had slipped off his eyes and hung around his neck.

"I think," he finally gasped, "I was hit with a rock." He had meant to speak to Vaatu, but was so dazed it came out aloud.

Toph stomped into his field of view, hands at her hips. "Congratulations. You were so busy attacking me, you weren't watching out for anything else."

"What does that mean?" he grumbled, sitting up. Toph did not offer a hand to help, and he didn't expect it.

"Listen up, Turtleduck: Sparring doesn't mean attacking like a rampaging sabertoothed moose lion."

He frowned. "But we were fighting."

"I was the only one doing the real fighting around here." Then, to his surprise, Toph folded her legs under her and joined him on the ground. “You need to work on your mindset."

Frustration flamed up within him. "How can you say that? I've done _everything_ you asked of me. I run three miles a day blindfolded and carrying you like a backpack while avoiding your rocks, I cook our food and set up our campsite. I do every challenge you set before me—“

"Exactly. You attack every obstacle head on." She held up her hand. "That's not a bad thing. You gotta be stubborn as a rock to earthbend, and you've got that down pat. But what you don't have—“ she pointed a finger at him “—is the real mindset it takes to get from good to great."

Zuko breathed, forcing his resentment out along with it. He had been working on his temper, too. It helped that Toph would grind him into the dirt any time he gave her lip.

"Okay," he forced himself to say, "What is that?"

She nodded as if she recognized his struggle to master his anger, and approved. She saw a lot, for being a blind girl.

"Two things: You have to wait, and you have to listen."

He frowned. "You can't stop to wait and listen in a real fight."

"Oh really? Because I've been in a lot of real fights, and I've won them all."

"But if you don't attack..." He shook his head. "Are you, what, fighting through defense? Like a waterbender?"

"No," Toph said. "When you attack, you attack. The point is, you gotta wait for the right moment." She stood. "On your feet, student."

His head throbbed from the last blow, but he didn't offer any excuses. He stood and took his position, blindfold off for once.

"Come at me," Toph said.

Zuko did not need to be told twice. At first, he had been reluctant to strike at a tiny little girl. That hesitation had been beaten out of him on the first day of training. Now, he just wanted to get a hit—any hit—on her.

So, stomping his foot, he bent up a melon-sized rock and flung it at her. No finesse, all frustration.

Toph half pivoted aside—not bothering with a full step to get out of the way. In return, she nudged one foot forward.

A spear of earth erupted at Zuko's feet. He'd felt the rumble through his toes and automatically leapt high out of the way.

But in earthbending, getting airborne meant breaking his root. Bad idea. He knew he had lost a second before his feet touched ground.

The rock under him lurched, and he lost his balance, falling back on his butt.

He growled and punched the earth. It made a sizable dent.

Toph strode over. "What did I do?"

He knew the answer, but still had to force it through gritted teeth. "You let me defeat myself."

"Exactly. Neutral jing. You gotta love it."

He blinked. That's right. He hadn't heard about jing since the earliest days of firebending instruction in the palace.

Firebending used positive jing: Attack and keep attacking. Waterbending was negative. Earth and air were neutral, though on exact opposite spectrums. Airbending was avoidance, and earth... earth was about confronting head-on.

Toph did not budge. Nor did she back down. She let Zuko attack first, every single time. Then, the second he screwed up—because he always screwed up—she struck.

Zuko narrowed his eyes and stood. Reaching for the blindfold which had slipped down to his neck, he retied it over his eyes. Through the earth, he felt Toph nod in approval.

"Again," she said.

This time, when Zuko took his stance, he did not attack. He waited and he watched.

Toph's spear of earth came at him right between his legs, which was a dirty trick. Instead of leaping and attacking from height which he'd been taught as a firebender, he scuffed one foot to the side to break off the raising column at the base. It gave him an extra moment to rise a wall of stone before him, using a technique Toph had shown him just that morning.

A projectile of rock cracked against his wall.

With a chop, he cut a wedge off the wall and flung it at her.

Toph stepped quickly out of the way in a low shuffling movement that allowed her to easily pivot but did not break her root.

They traded blows like this for a few minutes.

Zuko still lost, of course. But he lasted longer than he had every other spar combined.

This time, when he lay on his back, winded and aching from a hit to the ribs, Toph stood over him, pleased.

"Excellent work, earthbending student."

Zuko grinned weakly in reply.

* * *

Back when he was sailing the world in exile, Uncle Iroh would allow him to train one, perhaps two hours a day.

Some of that was meditation or pai sho.

"You are a young man, nephew," Iroh had said, "You should learn to spend more time learning to enjoy life."

He never understood that to Zuko, firebending training _was_ enjoying himself. Even after the Agni Kai. It was the only thing that took his mind off his quest, and what he saw as his disgrace.

Before that, of course, he had trained with official firebending instructors hired by his father. But those men and women were much more interested in training Azula than the less talented prince.

With Toph as his earthbending master, for the first time Zuko's endurance was pushed to the absolute limit.

With her, everything was a lesson. When she wasn't busy hurling rocks at his head in sparring, he traveled with her barefoot and blindfolded. That meant avoiding thorn-bushes, debris, and random obsticles Toph would throw in his path.

"To shake the dust out of your ears," she said cheerfully while opening a six-foot wide gulf in front of him. He surely would have broken something had he fallen in.

So, it was important Zuko didn't fall in.

He also wasn’t allowed to go around. He had to create his own earthbending path across. It took him three times to bend a ramp that would hold his weight.

Not to say that Zuko was the perfect student. He was as stubborn as a rock, but his anger often got the best of him.

Toph, too, was stubborn and unyielding. She was also, he learned, from the Earth Kingdom noble merchant class. And she had grown up even more lonely than him, without even the benefit of an unhinged sibling for company.

Zuko shared as little of himself as possible. Just the basics: He couldn’t go home. (He wasn’t sure if he wanted to go home.) Toph had an uncanny way of sensing the truth through earth. He suspected it had something to do with his heartbeat—but his earthsense was not as finely attuned as hers, yet.

Every day, his earthbending improved. And eventually, through the sheer grinding will earthbending had given him, he wrestled the worst of his anger under control. Or at least, he learned to seethe more discreetly.

Then they hit their first real town.

He couldn't say what the town looked like, exactly—he still wore his blindfold—but it was much larger than the tiny outposts they'd bought their supplies from so far. He sensed at least three streets, all filled with the rumbling, conflicting vibrations of people and animal-driven carts.

"Finally," Toph said in satisfaction. "I've found a good testing ground for you.”

He turned to her. "What do you mean?"

He heard the grin in her voice. "Watch and learn. And don't you dare take off that blindfold."

Then she started walking forward, brazenly into the town.

 _'I look like an idiot with this blindfold on,'_ Zuko grumbled to Vaatu.

 _You look no more stupid than any other human_ , Vaatu replied.

They entered the town. It wasn't an earthsense—at least, he was pretty sure it wasn't earthsense—but he could feel the stares of eyes on him. He knew his burn scar was wider than the blindfold. Anyone watching would assume he was as blind as Toph.

Toph suddenly turned down another street—straight to two brick buildings that created a narrow ally.

"Where are we going?" Zuko asked. "The general store is in the other direction." He could not see the signs, but it was a good guess considering it was the largest building and the ground underneath was warped by the weight of a lot of supplies.

"You're too focused," Toph said easily. "Try looking at the big picture."

Zuko gritted his teeth. Of _course_ he was focused. Firebending required precision and absolute focus.

_But you are not learning to be a firebender, Vessel. Listen to your master._

Closing his eyes under his blindfold, Zuko let his doubt settle into the swirling fire that was his chi, and cast out.

There were three men following them.

They were probably being subtle to people with eyes, keeping well back. But they also matched himself and Toph step-for-step. When he and Toph drifted to the right side of the street, they did too.

"Those men. You're... leading them somewhere?" he guessed.

"Yup. It's time for your first earthbending combat test," Toph said, all cheer.

Zuko felt himself smile. "It's been a while since my last brawl. Thank you, Sifu Toph."

She punched his shoulder. "Hey, don't ever tell me I don't get you nice things."

The alleyway between the two buildings led up to a stone dead-end. But the buildings themselves were made of brick and packed mud. Plenty of material for Zuko to work with.

Reaching the end, Toph turned to Zuko. "Remember: Wait and listen. And don't embarrass me." Then, in a higher, girlish voice meant to carry she called, "Brother, I don't think this is the way at all. Are we lost?"

Zuko thought she was laying it on a little thick, though he did appreciate the theatrics.

There was an answering dark chuckle from the open mouth of the alleyway. "Don't worry, little girl. We'll help you find your way home."

Zuko whipped around as if startled, putting himself deliberately in front of Toph. "Who's there?"

“I want that little girl,” the man said, to his two goons. "Dispose of the boy."

The men hadn’t planned to rob them. They wanted… Zuko felt very cold and then very hot. Fire crackled in his chi, begging to be let out. It took every hard-won scrap of control over the last few weeks to wall out the flames. It would be easy, so easy, to cleanse these disgusting men with fire.

But no. He would beat them up with rocks, instead.

The two goons broke off. One outpaced the other, running at Zuko with a stone-topped cudgel in his hands.

Zuko shoved down the instinct to run at him, to meet him before he could swing it.

Instead, he stood and waited as if unaware he was coming.

The man swung down, aiming for his head in a wide overhand swing. Zuko held up one barred arm, fist clenched.

The stone struck his forearm and crumpled into dust.

As the man yelled out in surprise. Zuko caught the bare handle and yanked it from his grasp. His earthsense showed him exactly where the man stood, slightly rocked back in shock.

Swinging the handle like a club, Zuko struck the goon upside the head.

The second man roared and charged. Zuko saw/sensed/felt his lengthening gait. He knew exactly where the next foot-fall would be.

And he simply used one of Toph's favorite tricks to shift the earth as the man's boot landed.

One foot went one way, the other in a completely different direction with a soft pop of sinew. The man fell over howling and clutching his ankle.

At Zuko's gesture, a brick shot out from the side of a building and slammed into his head with force enough to knock him out cold.

Now only the leader was left.

The man snarled, "Earthbending scum!" He leapt forward, arms whipping in a sharp gesture Zuko knew so well. That was a firebending move.

"Watch out!" Toph yelled.

Zuko didn't think. His own flame shattered the man's bolt of fire.

Then Toph was at his side, striking the air in hard rapid movements too quick for him to track. Brick rained down through the alleyway, and within seconds, the firebender was half-buried in rubble.

"Come on!" Toph gripped his elbow and pulled Zuko back, pausing only to kick a hole in the stone dead-end that had been at their backs.

Then they were out of the alleyway and running.

Zuko's mind was aflame with indignation and horror. At least one of those men—possibly all three—had been Fire Nation. And they'd wanted Toph for despicable purposes.

What was wrong with them? Where they deserters? Did they have no honor?

But there was only one deserter—the infamous General Jeong-Jeong.

What was a firebender doing in the middle of the Earth Kingdom, anyway? The war was nowhere near here.

He shook with fury at his people. At himself.

 _‘I don’t understand’_ , he told Vaatu.

_Yes you do, Vessel. You simply wish to continue to lie to yourself._

* * *

They only stopped when they were well away from the town. Zuko tore the blindfold off his head. Vaatu’s words and the knowledge he did not want to admit to himself… it was too much. He struck out.

"I could have handled that man!" he yelled. “You didn’t need to step in!”

Even he knew it was easier to be angry at Toph than at his own people.

"How?" Toph snapped. "By firebending at him?"

It was like a bucket of cold water over his head. Monkey-Feathers. He didn't think she had noticed. “I—What? No!" he stammered.

Toph’s lips compressed into a thin line. Marching forward, she shoved a finger into his chest. "I'm blind, not stupid!"

"Sifu Toph—“

"Don't 'Sifu Toph' me! Can you firebend or not?"

 _Careful, Vessel_ , Vaatu warned.

He didn't need Vaatu to tell him twice. There was no question in his mind: Toph could easily bury him alive if she wanted.

"Yes, I can firebend," he said.

Vaatu groaned in his head.

Toph’s face blanked of all expression, and for a second Zuko got the impression he had completely shocked her.

He tensed, bracing himself to be crushed.

Then her mouth twisted into a scowl. "One hundred rock-squats!" she barked. "Now!"

"I... What?"

"Do you want to make it two-hundred?" she brayed with all the force of a military commander.

"No!"

He hurriedly kicked a large boulder out of the ground. Holding it over his shoulders, he bent his knees and started to count. "One rock-squat, two rock-squats..."

The maximum she'd made him do before was twenty-five, and that had been horrible.

At ten rock-squats, Toph launched herself up on a column of earth and landed on top of the rock, adding to its weight.

"Keep going!" she yelled as Zuko staggered. "You'd better not drop this, Turtleduck, or you're starting from one again!"

Sweat dripping into his eyes, he found his balance and continued, "Eleven rock-squats. Twelve rock-squats..."

At thirty, he was gasping for breath. At fifty, his legs were absolutely on fire. He did not stop. Seventy-five and he was in agony, his world pinpointed down to the weight across his shoulders and the two bars of pain that were his calves and thighs.

At one-hundred he stood from the final squat and collapsed onto his back, barely avoiding being crushed by the boulder over him. Retching, hyperventilating, his legs in such a cramp that the muscles twitched wildly. He lay flat out and just tried not to die.

Toph stood over him, pitiless.

"If you ever keep something big like that from me again, it'll be two-hundred rock squats."

Then she tossed him a skin of water.

He wasn’t even able to drink for a few minutes. Finally, his breath back under some control, he took slow sips.

She sat next to him and watched him recover.

"So," she said at length. "Spill. How can you bend two elements? You're not the Avatar."

Rubbing his eyes, he let out a breathless laugh. "I'm _an_ Avatar. There are two."

"How is that possible?"

“…I don't know where to begin." His banishment? Finding the other Avatar at the South Pole? Being left to die at the North Pole?

“Ugh!” Suddenly Toph slapped her own forehead. “You weren’t carrying spark rocks. Just two hunks of granite in your pocket. I should have known something was up when you started the campfire every single time.”

Every muscle ached, but he still smirked.

She must have sensed it because she flicked a pea-sized piece of gravel at him. “Okay, time’s up: Begin at the beginning.”

His smirk slipped."What do you know about the story of Avatar Wan? The first Avatar?"

"Which version?" she asked immediately.

Surprised, he sat up to look at her. "There are different versions?"

"Sure. I had a lot of nurses and they all had their take on the story. They basically fell into two categories: In the first, Wan was the first earthbender who escaped the Lion Turtles to live with the spirits. Only he accidentally released the spirit of evil into the world. It went into the heart of humans, blah, blah, blah. And as penance Wan had to merge with the pure spirit of the world and learn all the elements. He's the only good one, and all the rest of us mortals are born with the evil spirit inside our hearts. That's why we have to listen to the Avatar." Toph made a face.

Zuko didn't blame her. "What's the second version?”

"Pretty much the same as the first, except at the end Wan sealed the darkness in a Tree of Time. He carries the light of the world in him and has to provide balance to all the evil warring humans.”

 _These are disgustingly one-sided_ , Vaatu said.

"Yeah, well the victors are the ones who write history," Zuko replied under his breath.

"What was that?" Toph asked.

"The second one is closest to the truth. But they weren't spirits of good and evil, or light and dark... it's more complicated. Raava is order. Vaatu is chaos."

"Right," Toph said. "Good and evil."

"No." He shook his head vehemently."I used to think the same, but I saw a vision of Raava’s _perfect_ world. It was the most horrible thing I've seen in my life. Order was absolute. There were no nations, no differences. Everyone was the same. They thought the same thoughts, went through the same motions. No free will, no change, no creativity... it was like they weren't alive. They breathed, but not too much or too little. It was..." He breathed hard as a suffocating feeling of entrapment seemed to crush his lungs.

Toph seemed both stunned and a little confused. "But the Avatar is good."

"The Avatar disappeared one-hundred years ago when he was needed most," Zuko snapped. "And within _one_ day an entire race of people—the most freethinking people on the planet, were slaughtered. I'm not saying Raava's vessel meant for that to happen. He's an airbender, he's just a kid, and maybe—just maybe—it was a terrible coincidence. But I am saying the world took one giant step closer to order dominating chaos that day."

He was not aware he had come to these conclusions before he even said it. What he had seen—both as an educated prince and from Vaatu’s visions… it made too much terrible sense to ignore.

Raava spent thousands of years separating the world’s people into four nations. Socially and culturally isolated. Distrusting of one another. Warring. Now they were in danger of being eliminated, one-by-one.

He and Vaatu were the only ones who could stop it.

She blinked. "Okay, Turtleduck. Let's say all this is true. What does this have to do with you?"

"Because _I_ found the Tree of Time. The tree Vaatu was encased in for ten-thousand years. It was in the North Pole. I was—I’d followed the Avatar there. My orders were to bring him back to the Fire Nation in chains, but I was out of my element." He snorted in self-recrimination. "Literally. It's all ice and snow. I got a beaten by a girl who had formally trained for weeks."

And he went on, briefly, to explain the moon's disappearance, how he'd stumbled into a spirit plane no mortal was meant to see. How he been encased within the tree as well, and what he did to get out.

Toph sat still during all of this. There was no expression on her face, save for occasional raised or furrowed eyebrows. One hand and both feet were flat on the ground. He had no doubt she was watching him very carefully with her earthsense.

"I have a question,” she said.

He huffed a laugh. "Just one?"

"You told me Raava’s plan for the world. What's Vaatu’s plan? Instant darkness forever? The Fire Nation winning? What?"

Vaatu scoffed.

Zuko rolled his eyes. "Nations are too orderly for him."

 _No,_ Vaatu said primly. _But the artificial boundaries imposed by Raava are not sustainable. She has been working for nearly ten-thousand years and only now, near harmonic convergence, is she close to success._

"Vaatu, can you show her the meadow?" Zuko asked aloud.

Toph flinched.

 _No._ You _are my vessel. You and I are merged at the spiritual level, and yet your human mind is still processing the vast, complex amount of information from only two short visions. Without me physically there to shield her mind, it would expand too rapidly and destroy itself._

_‘Are you saying you could have melted my mind in the tree?’_

_Your death was a risk I was willing to take._

Zuko pinched the bridge of his nose. "He says no."

_You are going to have to use your words to convince her, Vessel. Choose them wisely._

"His world is like...a meadow of wildflowers?" Zuko tried.

"Wildflowers,” she echoed flatly.

Zuko sighed. "I'm not doing it right. It's like... eternal growth and change instead of stagnation. Imagine a huge city with a thousand different people, and maybe they don't all get along and maybe they bump into each other a lot… and there are rich and poor and merchants and all sorts in between, and they all live together in kind of a soup. But it's one with a thousand different ingredients and it works even when it doesn't and all... tastes good?"

Toph stared at him as much as a blind girl could. Then she tipped back her head and brayed laughter to the sky. "That was terrible.”

He sighed. Why was it easier to describe something he disliked rather than liked?

"The point is, Vaatu’s not evil. It’s not about good and evil—they’re spirits, they don’t think in the same terms we do. But I think order and chaos both have light and dark aspects to them.”

Toph quieted, focusing again. He thought for a moment, then went on.

“The stories got one thing right: Humans have both Raava and Vaatu in their hearts. I don't agree with everything Vaatu says or wants, and I don't think Avatar Aang does with Raava.”

Toph cocked her head. "So what does Vaatu think about the Fire Nation?"

"He doesn't think they should win the war,” he said. "And I guess..." he hesitated, firmed his resolve, and charged ahead. "I love the Fire Nation, but I don't think it's right that we take over the world, either. We were taught that the war was a way to bring peace to the world. But I’m seeing now that it’s wrong. We shouldn’t try to make all the nations like us. It’s not good for anyone. All we’ve brought is suffering.”

Toph nodded. Stood. "Okay."

"Okay?" he repeated blankly. It was a spiritual epiphany he didn't realize had been growing within himself. A fundamental shift in who he was on every level. And all she could say was "Okay?"

"Okay, _and_ ," Toph said, “tomorrow, you and I are gonna spar properly. You bring the fire and I'll bring the earth."

"Why?"

"Because a true master never stops learning. Plus, I’ve never beaten up a firebender before." She cocked her head, thinking. "Although, I guess, technically I have."

He looked up at her —this sturdy girl with the inner strength of a mountain—and sort of felt like crying. "So you still want to teach me? You don't... you don't hate me?"

"No," she said simply. "I'm still a little fuzzy on the spirit of order versus spirit of chaos stuff, but you're a good egg, Turtleduck. I think if there's evil in there, you'll keep it in check."

"Um, thank you?” He winced. “But you should probably know my real name."

"Don't bother," she said. "I'll never use it."

Then she reached down and helped him to his feet—for all she weighed half as much him. Then she punched his shoulder, hard.

"Walk four laps around the camp. Take all the time you want to do it, but don't you dare let those leg muscles get stiff. Tomorrow, you’re going to show me how to kick a firebender’s ass, then the _real_ earthbending work begins."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next up: Water


End file.
